altitude
by former-burning-example
Summary: In retrospect, it might have been a bad idea for Bella to jokingly bring up her ex-girlfriend right before Rose and Alice went hunting. Rosalie/Bella. Complete


A/N: Established relationship. I have a lot of stray ideas for conversations between these two, so here's one that's been hanging around me for a little while

..

.

It's still a little impossible for Bella to believe sometimes, but when she's two hundred feet off the ground, clinging to a tree branch, she buys it all completely. Either that or fall to her death. Not that Rose wouldn't catch her. Probably.

"She's… pretty. For a human," Rosalie says, flicking through some old pictures on Bella's phone. She pushes her hair over her shoulder. Bella would roll her eyes if she weren't so focused on fusing her arms into the tree.

"A little help here?" she asks- well, begs rather.

Rose sighs and links a finger through one of Bella's belt loops. "And _I'm_ the dramatic one."

"I'm sorry my one shred of self-preservation decided to kick in today," she says, letting Rose pull her closer to the trunk. "Remind me why we're in a tree again?"

Rose ignores her and goes back to scrolling. In retrospect, it might have been a bad idea for Bella to jokingly bring up her ex-girlfriend right before Rose and Alice went hunting. The way Rose's eyes darkened had nearly knocked her over, and there was a quiet severity in the way she kissed her before she disappeared into the mountains for a week and a half. She'd just got back today and wasted no time pulling Bella out of Trig and up a tree.

She mumbles something that sounds a lot like _pretty_ , and this time Bella does roll her eyes. "You know you don't get to play the pretty card right? You _have_ looked in a mirror before, yeah?"

"What's her name?" Rose asks.

"Jordan."

Rose keeps scrolling until Bella snatches her phone away. "Gimme that. Why are you so hung up on this anyway? I haven't even talked to her since before I moved."

"Why did you break up?"

"I don't know. Because I was moving, I guess."

Rosalie stiffens almost imperceptibly. The intentional slightness of it tugs at Bella's chest which is nothing short of nerve-wracking given the sheer drop below. She backtracks, hoping to smooth things out a little. "That's not what I… We would've broken up anyway. We were really different."

"We're different too." Rose looks down at the clearing. Probably at some tiny thing like a ladybug weighing down a blade of grass or something like that with her apex predator eyes. Once, Rose went off on a little tangent describing to Bella the details of her face. Bella had to stop her after about five seconds because knowing that her girlfriend sees her in more detail than those awful magnifying makeup mirrors in the mall was a little too much to handle.

Bella nods. "Yeah, we're different, but I'd never break up with you. What would I do if my truck broke down?"

"So you're using me. Is that what this is?" Rose's sideways glance melts into something more familiar. Her smile reaches her eyes. It's so rare to see her like this, Bella doesn't dare blink and miss a second of it.

"Yes. One hundred percent."

It only lasts a few more seconds before Rose frowns again. Bella hates that she doesn't know what to say. They've only been together for a few months, and Bella feels so clueless most of the time because Rose isn't really one to talk about herself or her feelings. She doesn't really talk that much in general. Most of their time spent together is Bella spilling out nonsense and Rose just nodding like it all makes perfect sense.

"Rose?"

Rosalie sighs. "Don't be mad."

"I'm not mad." When Rose doesn't look convinced, Bella holds out her pinky. "Here."

Rose looks at her blankly.

"You're telling me that you're like a hundred years old, and you don't know what a pinky promise is? Who _are_ you?" Bella loops their fingers together. "Okay, see. Now it's official."

Rosalie looks somewhere between amused and annoyed- her natural state apparently. She pulls her hand away but lets Bella catch and hold onto it anyway.

"Why'd you think I'd be mad? I don't even know what I'm supposed to be mad about," Bella says.

"Because-" She makes a vague gesture with her free hand. "Because- Oh, you know I'm not good with words."

"Yeah, me either. But I don't let it stop me."

Rose lets out a breath like a laugh. "No, you certainly don't."

"Hey! You're not supposed to agree with me." Bella nudges her with her shoulder, forgetting for a moment their precarious spot in the treetop. She loses her balance a little, and Rose steadies her with a cold hand on her shoulder.

"Can I just- Would you allow me to speak candidly?"

Bella straightens up, nose to the sky. "Oh, yes, my fair lady. Speaketh from the heart. Thou art… have permission or whatever."

"Shut up," Rose says, smiling.

"It's not my fault you talk like you're long lost royalty or something."

"Bella..."

"Okay, okay. Continue."

Rose squeezes her hand and looks out at the valley to collect her thoughts. She's beautiful. Obviously. It makes Bella's head spin every other minute. And Rose definitely knows what she has going for her. Sometimes she seems to revel in it- the attention, the obvious envy or lust in the air- but other times Bella swears she can see Rosalie shrink into herself, uncomfortable in her own diamond skin, opposed to the eyes on her at all times. After getting to know her a little bit, Bella was shocked at just how _shy_ she was. Even now she's still a touch reserved most of the time.

"It's just- You know I don't sleep… And I just start _thinking_ about you, and that you've thought about another girl the way you think about me now. And I don't want to be crazy or possessive, but it makes me angry or sad or some kind of disgusting mixture of both. Then, of course, I feel horrible because you're not with her anymore. You're _with_ me, and I'm wasting time thinking about things that don't matter." Rosalie sighs and glances at Bella for a moment. "Esme thinks I'm self-sabotaging because I'm frightened."

"Frightened?"

"I feel… Bella, I- There was so much I never experienced as a human. And after I changed, I hid myself for so long. But now you're here, and I'm learning all kinds of things about myself." Rose shakes her head at herself, letting her hair fall like a curtain between them. "Like how easily threatened I am by an ex-girlfriend's Instagram pictures."

Bella loosens her death grip on the branch they're sitting on, deciding to just fully trust her girlfriend like she should have been doing the whole time anyway. She's a _vampire._ Bella could use the branch as a springboard and launch herself out of the tree, and Rose could catch her and continue the conversation all in the same second.

"I've never thought about anyone the way I think of you, Rosalie. Jordan was the only other person I've dated, and she was cool. But I didn't feel for her half of what I feel for you. You're like the stars or the moon or the whole fucking universe, you know that right?" The nerves up her spine pop like firecrackers between her vertebrae, and she feels a little silly for being so sincere, but when Rose looks over at her, golden eyes radiant with happiness, it's completely worth it.

A sudden gust of wind rocks them. The tree groans loudly as it sways. Bella clings to Rose's arm but the vampire is seemingly oblivious to mother nature's _clear_ message to get out of her tree. She's just smiling brightly, blindingly.

Bella squeezes her arm. "Not to ruin the moment, but can we _please_ get down?"

Rose nods, wraps an arm around her waist, and leaps from the tree. Bella closes her eyes, still unused to the way the Cullens just casually cut through the air whenever they feel like it.

When her feet touch the ground she lets out a relieved breath. Beside her, Rose fixes her hair. She smiles almost sheepishly. "Sorry, I thought you'd like the view up there."

"We could hang out in the sewer together and after, I'd still be like- hmm, best date ever."

Rose scrunches her nose adorably and takes Bella's hand. They walk together through the forest at human speed until they come to the edge of a bluff jutting steeply above the river.

Rose gives her a mischievous look, and Bella barely has the time to sigh before she's swept onto Rose's back, and they're flying again. Even as it's happening, it's still a little unbelievable. As they soar, her arms tighten around Rose. Either that or fall to her death.

Bella's making it work.


End file.
